The third of June marked the first year of the disappearance of Compass Media journalist Andrel Harris.
Twelve months after the last CCTV sighting of the 34-year-old near Pedro St James, Harris remains listed as a missing person.
Despite a massive land and sea search involving police, Coast Guard and members of the public, all that was found was clothing and a phone linked to Harris in the waters around the area.
Painstaking searches of the cliffs and sea in the area of Pedro Castle were carried out in the days after his disappearance without result.
Police confirmed on 8 June that the effort would change to a search and recovery operation and the Coast Guard and police called off the search four days later.
Commissioner of Police Kurt Walton said a month after the disappearance that the file would remain open and that officers were keeping an “open mind”.
Walton said, “Andrel for us is still classed as a missing person, so I don’t want to make any presumption at this point.
“What we are saying at this moment … based on the current facts and evidence on hand, we do not believe that there’s any third-party involvement.”
At the time of his disappearance, Harris worked as a journalist for Compass Media. He first entered the media landscape at the Cayman 27 television station, starting as a trainee reporter, before going on to Radio Cayman, the Cayman Compass and then, briefly, the government communications department. He then returned to Compass Media to work on its new television channel.
Harris proved to be a gifted journalist who was often first on the scene of major news events in Cayman, ranging from gang shootings and hurricanes to COVID-19 press conferences and court proceedings.
Police on Wednesday 3 June confirmed that the file remained open.
Once a person remains missing for seven years, an application could be made to the Coroner’s Court to proceed on the basis that a person has died.
Attorney Nicholas Dixey, of law firm Dixey’s Legal, who emphasised he was speaking in hypothetical terms, said, “In those circumstances, the starting point is likely to be the common law position from England and Wales that there is a rebuttable presumption that the person has died after the expiry of a seven-year period since the last account of the person.”
As the case remains open and Harris is considered a missing person, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service have asked that anyone who has seen Harris of has any information about his whereabouts to contact the service on 945-4624 or 949-6555.
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